Mars Hill Church Downtown Seattle has relocated to the former home of the first church congregation in Seattle, which was opened in 1910 and was the church of Seattle’s founding families, the Dennys, Bells, and Borens. Mars Hill welcomed over 1600 people at its grand opening this past Sunday, January 13, on a day when church attendance was expected to be low due to the Seattle Seahawks playoff game.

News anchor Angela Russell reported last week on Mars Hill Downtown’s, “There’s a new chapter in Seattle’s history tonight with the salvation of a downtown Seattle building that is over 100 years old. The new tenant, a church, is preserving the building and restoring its original use.”
The church is leasing the historic building on Fifth Avenue and Marion Street known as Daniels Recital Hall, after selling its Belltown location to a company called PTI Western 2012, LLC. One of Mars Hill’s 14 locations, the downtown church was planted in 2008 in the former building of the notorious Tabella Nightclub. Four years later, the church has outgrown that space on Western Avenue, currently holding five weekend services (the most per week of any Mars Hill church). The new space more than doubles the seating capacity per service, which will allow the church to reach and serve more people in the community.
“This is an incredible opportunity to be a ministry hub for downtown Seattle as it will allow us to better serve the business men and women in our city, as well as the homeless and marginalized, as we’re closer to one of our ministry partner, Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission,” says Tim Gaydos, lead pastor of the Downtown Seattle church. “Also, being closer to Capitol Hill is a blessing as we are serving and ministering to those who are infected with AIDS on the hill.” CrossCut News recently reported on some of the church’s community reach efforts.
“We are looking forward to having a building that allows the Downtown Seattle church body so much room to grow. We hope to fill it with people who love Jesus and love Seattle,” says Mark Driscoll, preaching and vision pastor at Mars Hill Church
The church held a Christmas Eve service as part of their soft launch. 2300 people packed the church that night for a great celebration with a choir, worship music, and live preaching from Pastor Mark Driscoll. They also collected canned goods, blankets, tube socks and food for the Union Gospel Mission.